On Tuesday I have another super-productive day. By the end of the day I'm almost a third of the way done (in two working days) that was supposed to take two months. It's warming up already as the temperature in Long Beach touches 90F but I jump on the mountain bicycle after work and ride down to the pier and back. I'm tired on the way home as I face a headwind but I just spin away and enjoy finishing the ride.
Wednesday is a hotter day and I make good progress in the morning. After an early afternoon interview I want to go home and intend to go home early. But people keep coming in and asking me questions and before I know it I've helped out a number of people and it is actually time to go home. I lubricate the Yamaha YZF-R1 chain when I get home, help Person Ti_Ca fill out an insurance application, and then I have a heavy workout with the weights. Just a few more pounds one ach lift for today's workout. Since it is pretty hot today I relax at home with more work.
Thursday is my 55th birthday and very few people at work know it. But I get some birthday wishes and try to have a good day. Today I've notced the Yamaha YZF-R1 has a small oil leak so it is not a good day. But I get home and take off for the aquarium ride with no real extensions - it's hot today, my legs are still tired from recent rides, and I need to meet up with people. Person Ti_Ca, Sim, Person T_U, and I go out for my birthday dinner and we enoy the time together.
On Friday it is hard to concentrate because I've concluded a couple of efforts and can't get motivated to start in on the new ones. Today is the hottest day of the year but I go home, get in a great workout with the weights, mow the lawn, and wash down the junipers (to try to prevent a future spider mite attack). The house is very warm so the air conditioning gets turned on for the first time this year. And as Person Ti_Ca goes out with his sister I have a cool relaxing evening at home.
Saturday starts with watering the lawn and the impatiens and then the long mountain bicycle ride down to the pier and back. While I'm riding a cyclist passes me (when he takes a shortcut) and I follow him for a long time. When I get to Wardlow I see him on the ground. So I stop and help him pick himself up and bursh the dirt off his foreamrs. He's just started riding with clip-in pedals and fell when trying to get in. So we ride together for the last few miles as he parks at Del Amo (where I exit). And we hope to run into each other again soon. Today is very hot so I go to the library, run some other errands, get calling cards for cheap phone calls to Cambodia and Thailand, and but Person Ti_Ca the book that he wanted. When I get home I turn on the air conditioning and just have a quiet day inside (since Person Ti_Ca has gone out with his sister and later with another friend).
I wake up after 7 am on SUnday and get ready to go ride with Derrick. We meet up on the Los Angeles river trail and ride down to the lighthouse. As we are taking a fluid break I recognize a former co-worker on his bicycle with friends. So we tentatively set up a ride to the Santa Fe dam for next Sunday. After the ride, which ends up about 40 miles, I get cleaned up and Person Ti_Ca, Person T_U, and I head down to Laguna Beach to relax in the sand and play in the water. At one point I lose Person T_u's boogie board but it eventually washed up on shore. And I tell him that I'm not good in the water and I should just play around like an old man or a little kid rather than boogie boarding. Eventually we make it back home and I watch the exciting men's Olympic marathon with strategy and surges and fades thrown in.
Monday is a horrible day. It starts with being unable to sleep for long stretches of Sunday night into Monday morning. When I get up a bit late the Yamaha YZF-R1 is dead - it will not start. Thus it gets rolled back into the garage and I have to drive to work. As I'm at work I am unmotivated and tired and continually thinking of the motorbike's problems. In the afternoon I have a meeting and I have super insight into certain difficult to understand portions of a simulation and I'm able to explain to everyone what is going on. Thus I feel a bit better about the day, but it hasn't been a good day. When I get home I put the motorbike battery on a charger and workout. The voltage of the battery is increasing and when I come back from grocery shopping, during which I ran into Person C_CH and he did NOT want to see me, I put the battery back into the bike and it starts right up. But the voltage is not increasing as the engine is running so there is a serious problem with the charging system. I figure I will drive to work on Tuesday and then try to get the bike to the dealer on Tuesday after work.
Their isn't much traffic (fortunately) on Tuesday and I get to work early and get home nicely. At work there is a panic because today is my last day for almost a week and people have decided, at the last minute again, that they need something before I leave. I do the best that I can and than I give up. I drive home and the motorbike satrts up, so Person Ti_Ca follows me to the dealer for repair. When I get to the dealer and try to show him the problem, the motorbike will not start. This I just barely made it there. But I tell him about the lack of overvoltage in the charging system as well as some potnetial ECU issues. When we leave, Person Ti_Ca and I stop and buy his car a new radiator cap and some radiator leak sealer and fix his car in the parking lot. I should work out tonight but I am so tired it is enough to trim and water the roses and do laundry. And then I collapse into bed early.
On Wednesday morning I get out for the rie to the pier and back and then pack up my things. Person Ti_Ca and I drive to Santa Barbara and enjoy a few days of coolwer weather. We play in the hotel pool, go down to the Santa Barbara beach, do some driving around, do some relaxing, and do a lot of walking on State Street where the shops and restaurants are. Each morning I get in almost one hour walk/runs as I try to snap out of my tiredness and lethargy. I'm also reading a book about Internet businesses and by the end of the trip, with the running and resting and reading, I'm feeling physically and mentally good.
When we drive home on Friday there is surprisingly very little traffic. At each freeway interchange I'm expecting a horrible backup but they never materialize. When we get home, back into the 90F heat in Long Beach, I let the day cool before mowing the lawn, taking a cool shower, and calling it a day. Person Ti_Ca goes out with a friend for a while as his summer vacation from school is winding down.
Saturday starts with the longer aquarium ride past the pier to the end of the bike trail and back. When I get home I'm sweating a lot but I get into the rose beds and work away at trimming the roses and cleaning up dead leaves and watering them. A cool shower is refreshing. But the rest of the day is fairly slow as I relax and help Person Ti_Ca get ready for school and do some adoptions programming. Late on Saturday Person Ti_Ca and I go watch the Bourne Identity (or whatever the current release is called). I actually enjoy the movie and the different locations until the (unrealistic) shootout and chase scenes.
Sunday starts with a mountain bicycle ride down to the pier and back. I do not call Derrick because my legs are tired and I would hold him back. I run into him during the ride and I explain the situation and we agree to ride next Sunday. I get in a cool shower and relax a bit before helping Person Ti_Ca with shcolarship and job applications. I take some time during the afternoon to clean both bathrooms and to get down on my hands and knees and clean the kitchen floor. And then I watch the MotoGP, Moto3, and Moto2 races from Indianapolis. Unforutnately the track produces (somewhat) boring races unlike the European and Asian tracks that the circuit visits. Afterwards I do small errands around the house as Person Ti_Ca goes out to visit friends.